Biology and Art - October

This month’s contribution comes from Marika. She is completing her master’s program in botany, likes exploring nature and eating cakes.

5 October - World Teachers’ Day (Students as teachers)

When I was 19 years old, I had a part-time job teaching English at cram school. I enjoyed it because the high school students could learn new vocabulary and improve their grades. I learned how to explain Japanese and English grammar differences when teaching. Now, I am a student researching the isolation in reproduction in some flower species. Of course, I read English scientific papers and will complete my master’s degree explaining my research in English and Japanese. I believe that everyone should continue to acquire new things from others and can be a student and teacher in any situation.
19歳のとき、私は塾で英語を教えていました。高校生の生徒たちは新しい語彙を学んで成績を上げていき、私も教えることを楽しんでいました。授業を通して、私も日本語と英語の文法の違いをどう説明したら良いかを学ぶことができました。現在、私は数種類の植物を用いて、生殖隔離の研究をしています。もちろん、英語の論文を読んだり英語・日本語で研究を発表したりして、修士課程を修了する予定です。私は、人は常に他人から新しいことを学び続けられ、どんなシチュエーションでも誰かのa student and 先生になりうるのだと考えています。

HAIKU
The rules are simple: 5-7-5, there is no seasonal reference word (a kigo), but your poem must relate to either biology or the topic of the month, and you are writing in English.
ルールは簡単。五・七・五、季語はなくてもよいけれど、生物学かその月の話題に関連した句であること、そして英語で詠むことです。
Therefore, Marika’s haiku for this month is:

Strolling with good friends
paints the world in vivid colors;
learning and teaching.

友とぶらぶら
世界が鮮やかに染まる
学びと教え

IKEBANA

WORDS to learn this month are:
part-time job (アルバイト), isolation (隔離), reproduction (交配), to reproduce (再生する), species (種), scientific paper (論文), master’s degree (修士号), to acquire (得る)